official, "art lags 60 years
behind the rest of the world."
It is not easy, in any case, to
gain admission. To give one
example: the academy's
department of graphic design,
perhaps its most prestigious,
accepted just 33 out of 475
first-year applicants last
term.
Even after students are ad-
mitted, they must work very
hard in a fiercely competitive
atmosphere, which
presumably explains why 50
percent of them drop out
before graduation. Those who
do complete their studies,
however, almost always get
good jobs.

mm°Iw ■ •w•mw•

Bezalel is a fully accredited
academic institution which
awards B.A.s and hopes to ob-
tain permission in the near
future to award M.A.s. It also
plans to establish an Israeli
Design Center in its old cen-
tral building.
That building already
houses a research and
development unit, which
designs products for public
and private bodies. For in-
stance, it recently designed a
new type of suit to protect
people against the ravages of
gas warfare, which proves, if
proof were needed, that Israel
can't yet afford to turn all her
swords into plowshares. ❑

N EWS I

Pope Says Holocaust
Made Polish Soil Holy

Rome (JTA) — Pope John
Paul II told a group of Polish
pilgrims recently that the
Nazis committed the Holo-
caust on Polish soil to debase
it, but instead sanctified the
land with the blood of inno-
cent victims.
His remarks, coming dur-
ing the Jewish High Holi-
days late last month, puzzled
some observers but were
interpreted by others as
deeply sympathetic toward
the Jews.
The pontiff addressed
pilgrims of various nation-
alities during his weekly
general audience. He confin-
ed his references to the
Holocaust to the visitors
from his native Poland.
The pope did not mention
the words "Jew" or
"Jewish" in his discourse.
But his reference to "the
people of the patriarchs, of
Moses and of the prophets,"
which "was struck by the
terrible death of millions of
its sons and daughters" left
no doubt of whom he was
speaking.
One veteran Catholic
journalist said he was puzzl-
ed by the pope's remarks and
thought they were "certain
to cause reaction."
But others suggested the
pontiff meant to make a con-
ciliatory gesture to Jews in
the aftermath of the
Auschwitz convent dispute,
which severely strained
Catholic-Jewish relations for
years.
The presence of a
Carmelite convent on the
grounds of Auschwitz, which
more than any other former
death camp epitomizes the
Holocaust, agitated Jews the
world over. While the con-
vent is still on the Polish
site, construction has begun

.

on an interfaith center near-
by where the Carmelite
nuns will eventually be
relocated.
The pope did not mention
Auschwitz. But he appeared
to some to be affirming the
Jewish view of Auschwitz as
a charnel house sanctified by
the blood of Jewish victims.
Apparently referring to
the Nazis' treatment of the
Jews, the pope said: "First
they marked them with a
particular sign. Then they
were pushed into ghettos,
into isolated quarters. They
were taken to the gas
chambers and killed only be-
cause they were the children
of this people.
"The assassins did all this
on our land, perhaps to cover
it in infamy," the pope said,
referring to Poland. He add-
ed: "But you cannot cover a
land with infamy by killing
innocent victims. Such
deaths have made the land a
holy relic."
He ended his remarks by
saying, "The (Jewish) peo-
ple, which lived with us dur-
ing many generations, re-
mained with us after this
terrible death of its sons and
daughters. Together we
await the day of judgment
and resurrection."
In New York, officials of
two Jewish organizations
welcomed the Pope's recog-
nition of the uniqueness of
Jewish suffering during the
Holocaust.
"I think this is very
positive, coming at a time
when there is an upsurge of
anti-Semitism in Poland and
other parts of Eastern
Europe," said Rabbi A.
James Rudin, national
interreligious affairs direc-
tor of the American Jewish
Committee.

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